Katherine Lemos
Katherine Andrea Lemos | |
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Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board | |
Assumed office April 2020 | |
President | Donald Trump (2020–2021) Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Vanessa Allen Sutherland Kristen Kulinowski (acting)[1] |
Personal details | |
Born | 1967–1968 |
Citizenship | United States |
Spouse | Carlos Lemos[2] |
Alma mater | Belmont University (B.B.A., 1988) California Lutheran University (M.S., 1992) University of Iowa (Ph.D., 2002) |
Katherine Andrea Lemos is an American safety professional and the chairperson and CEO of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).
Early life
Katherine Lemos was born to John Curtis and Laura Curtis.[2] Her father was an United States Air Force and Air National Guard pilot and a commercial airline pilot.[2] Lemos started flight lessons at the age of fourteen, at which time her father required her to read National Transportation Safety Board publications to learn about aviation safety and accidents.[2]
Lemos earned a B.B.A. in business management from Belmont University, a M.S. in behavioral counseling from California Lutheran University, and a Ph.D. in social psychology from University of Iowa.[3][4] She also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Iowa Operator Performance Laboratory and as a NASA Faculty Fellow at Langley Research Center.[5]
Lemos is a pilot and certified flight instructor.[4]
Career
Prior to her appointment to CSB, Lemos worked at Northrop Grumman from 2014 to 2020, serving as the company's director of autonomy and director of programs for the aerospace sector.[6] She had previously worked as a technical leader and program manager for aviation safety at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an accident investigator and later Special Assistant to Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Transportation Safety Board.[3][7][8] She had also held academic positions at University of Maryland and Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica.[9]
Lemos has specialized in system safety, accident investigation, and human factors.[4][1] At the time she was nominated to CSB, she had no experience in chemical manufacturing or refinery operations, fields which fall under the purview of CSB investigation.[4]
Chemical Safety Board
Katherine Lemos was nominated by President Donald Trump to be a member of CSB on June 13, 2019.[3][10] On July 22, she was nominated by President Trump to serve concurrent five-year appointments as Chairperson and CEO of CSB.[3][11][12] At the time, the CSB's five-seat board had only three members,[13] one of whom would leave in December 2019.[2] The problem of vacancies in the CSB board was noted by a May 2019 Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General report to be detrimental to CSB's ability to function effectively.[13][14]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Katherine_Lemos_Senate_hearing.jpg/220px-Katherine_Lemos_Senate_hearing.jpg)
A hearing on her nomination was held by the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in September 2019.[2] Lemos received bipartisan support from committee members during her nomination.[4]
Her appointment was confirmed by the Senate by unanimous consent on March 23, 2020.[12][15] Senator John Barrasso said "it was critical the Senate confirm Dr. Lemos to provide a working quorum to the board";[16] at the time of Lemos's confirmation, the CSB board had only one member, Kristen Kulinowski,[17][6] and only eight investigators.[18] She began her tenure on April 23, 2020.[3]
Four days after Lemos's term began, Kulinowski announced that she would resign from CSB on May 1, ending the CSB's brief quorum.[19] At this time, CSB had ten unfilled investigator positions.[20] Thereafter, Lemos declared that she can operate as a "quorum of one", citing a legal opinion from the CSB general counsel allowing her to unilaterally run the CSB.[21] A July 2020 Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General report concluded that it remained an open question whether a single CSB board member may constitute a quorum, as doing so would impair the segregation of duties mandated by the Government Accountability Office.[21][22]
In May 2021, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility criticized Lemos for accruing $33,000 in travel expenses and $20,000 in office renovations, and for hiring a senior advisor from Northrup Grumman for an undisclosed salary.[23]
In a September 2021 hearing before the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Lemos testified that the CSB is "on an upward trend".[24][25] She said that she intended to expand the staff of CSB to 61 people by September 2023.[18]
In September 2021, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works approved the nominations of three new board members of CSB.[24] As of December 2021, the three CSB nominees are awaiting confirmation from the full Senate and Lemos remains the sole member of the CSB board.[24][26]
References
- ^ a b "Statement from Board Member Dr. Kristen Kulinowski as Senate Confirms Dr. Katherine Lemos to Chair of the Chemical Safety Board - General News - News | CSB". www.csb.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b c d e f "S.Hrg. 116-95 — HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF AURELIA SKIPWITH TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND KATHERINE LEMOS TO BE MEMBER AND CHAIRPERSON OF THE CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b c d e "Chairperson Dr. Lemos - CSB Board Members | CSB". www.csb.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b c d e Johnson, Jeff (September 12, 2019). "CSB nominee Katherine Lemos sails through confirmation hearing". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "OPL Team | Technology Institute Iowa Technology Institute - The University of Iowa". iti.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b "Senate Confirms New CSB Chairperson Katherine Lemos". AIHA. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Katherine Lemos". www.aiche.org. 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Statement from Dr. Lemos, New Chairperson and CEO of the U.S. CSB". inspectioneering.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Biography – Dra. Katherine Andrea Lemos" (PDF). Tecnológico de Aeronáutica. November 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 9, 2014.
- ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts – The White House". trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Three Nominations Sent to the Senate – The White House". trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b "Senate Confirms Katherine Lemos to Head Chemical Safety Board". Transport Topics. 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b "Trump to nominate Lemos to short-staffed Chemical Safety Board". www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ Fiscal Year 2019 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Management Challenges (PDF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General, May 20, 2019
- ^ "PN971 - Nomination of Katherine Andrea Lemos for Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 116th Congress (2019-2020)". www.congress.gov. 2020-03-23. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Senate Confirms Katherine Lemos to Chair Chemical Safety Board". U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Senate confirms Katherine Lemos as CSB chair". www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b Johnson, Jeff (October 6, 2021). "Chemical Safety Board head quizzed by skeptical US Congress members". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Chemical Safety Board Member's Departure Ends Short-Lived Quorum". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ Johnson, Jeff (May 4, 2020). "US Chemical Safety Board remains short-staffed". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Safety Agency Trump Wants Shut Moves Ahead with 'Quorum of One'". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ Lewis, Eric; von Hoyer, Andre, Fiscal Year 2020 U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Management Challenges (PDF), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General
- ^ "Chemical Safety Board Chair's Spending Spree – On Herself". PEER.org. 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ a b c "'We're on an upward trend,' Chemical Safety Board chair tells House subcommittee". www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Hearing on "Protecting Communities from Industrial Accidents: Revitalizing the Chemical Safety Board"". Democrats, Energy and Commerce Committee. 2021-09-29. Retrieved 2021-12-29.
- ^ "Board Members - About the CSB | CSB". www.csb.gov. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 2021-12-29.